The Story of Joy wins ACLA's Harry Levin Prize

The Story of Joy:
Author Adam Potkay named co-winner of the Harry Levin Prize.

by Joseph McClain
| April 2, 2009

The Story of Joy, by Adam
Potkay, was named a co-winner of the Harry Levin Prize awarded by the American
Comparative Literature Association.

Potkay is professor of English at the College of William
and Mary and a recipient of a Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence; he has
recently been designated William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Humanities,
beginning August 2009. The full title of his winning book is The Story of Joy, from the Bible to Late
Romanticism. Published by Cambridge University Press, Potkay's 2007
book outlines an intellectual and literary history of joy, especially the
treatments of joy in works of literature, philosophy and religion. Emphasis is
on British and German works from the Reformation through the Romantic period.

"I am surprised and
delighted to receive this honor," Potkay said upon being notified of the award
in early March.

The ACLA web site notes that books considered for the
Levin Prize emphasize literary history or criticism, as opposed to theory, and
should address more than one nation's literature. Awarded every other year, the
2009 Levin Prize will be presented at the ACLA Annual Meeting at Harvard
University.